"Red sky at night, Shepherds delight, red sky in the morning, Shepherds take warning". The first proverb I ever learned, living in the countryside as a youngster. The early rise meant the sun was just coming up at home and the red sky and days weather forecast were clearly at odds. So much for old proverbs! A beautiful start to the day though, and it's an old cliche, but it felt good to be alive!
The 45 minute trip across to the Charente Maritime was strange as the temperature ranged between 8C and 2C. Having met my pal, when we arrived at the lake there was a mist coming from the surface, wonderful, picturesque and very atmospheric.
As the sun came up I noticed a couple of lizards on a rotting stump they obviously called home. I think the one with lesser markings was the female with the male keeping a beady eye on me to see what I was up to.
We were spinning for black bass. I like spinning as it is easy to move around, unlike coarse fishermen who tend to carry more gear and once they have set up in a spot, generally, that's it for the day. When spinning you travel light and you can circle the whole of the lake as much or as little as you want.
As we were fishing, you could hear the frogs all around the margins. I have eaten frogs legs a few times and to be honest, they didn't do much for me, but there will be plenty to go at soon in the lake if you do like them. Actually I found that the legs tasted like chicken, isn't it strange how different types of edible meat are often compared with the humble chicken? All around the edge of the lake the tadpoles were busy doing whatever it is tadpoles do in the murky water. They needed to keep a look out though as there were a lot of pond skaters or water boatmen as we used to call them as kids, racing around looking for lunch.
The fish were feeding under the lily pads. It is almost impossible to fish under the pads but satisfying to catch a fish near the edge of them as it tests your casting skills.
The lake is very pretty and belongs to a friend. It is private and we were very fortunate to be fishing here, a real privilege.
We saw a red kite mobbing a cuckoo, and heard a couple of woodpeckers boring holes in a dead tree. Also, we could hear but didn't see, one of my favourites pictured above, the Hoopoe. There were also ducks flying over the lake plus a buzzard hunting for food. This lake is a real haven for bird life.
At the back of the lake is an area which is like a swamp. It is perhaps stretching the imagination a little too much to say it is a mini everglades but from the photo, I hope you can see where I am coming from. This ground has not been touched for years.
The lake has a small weir and even this early in the year, you can see the water is already quite low.
By lunch we had caught and released eleven fish between us with my mate, as always, catching the lions share. We decided that was sufficient and had a simple lunch with fresh bread, cheese and game pate sat on the dam reflecting as we ate on a morning that was not just about fishing, in fact it never is. It's much more than that....
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